Saturday, 31 October 2015

Happy Halloween! - my Halloween memories

Happy Halloween, everybody! I feel like as a blogger it's my liability to post some kind of fabulous, monumental makeup tutorial, nail design, party gear, spooky-themed decor or a unique idea on how to celebrate in style but truth be told, I'm the least creative person possible and quite frankly I'm naff at pretty much everything; especially when it relates to an original invention on a seasonal occasion.
As much as I love to follow the build up to Halloween, to woo over those amazing costumes and fearsome meets stunning looks (Georgina, I'm looking at you) there's no point me even attempting anything of my own so, you're stuck with a dreary image of my badly carved pumpkins instead.

Once Halloween comes around I begin to reminisce on my childhood. I do this a lot, but once the calendar strikes the 31st October I'm flung into full throwback mode and am wishing I was 8 years old all over again. With Halloween comes plenty of memories; over the years I've had some cracking trips out trick or treating and joys of choosing a character for a themed party. Now, it's all about sitting inside hoping the excited kids don't disturb my evening of TV, and eating all the leftover sweets (as well as picking at the goodies before the kids even arrive) BUT it doesn't stop me enjoying the atmosphere. I salute people going all out and making tons of effort on Halloween. I love to see all the decorations and designs and I think it's tradition done bloody well greatly. SO, as a sort of joint Sunday Natter post (it just wouldn't have been right posting tomorrow) I thought I'd collect some memories of the past together and share them with you all. Get Thriller, Monster Mash and the Addams Family theme tune played and be ready to go back in time!

1) Bin liners | they were an absolute saviour during the early noughties weren't they? To follow on from my lack of creativity, I dressed up as a witch every single year without fail; as well as the wooden broomstick and the pointed hat with hair at the back, a bin liner used as a cape completed the entire outfit. I thought I was the coolest kid in town.

2) Slip on fingers | surely we all remember these? The rubber fingers with black or red painted nails and wrinkles embedded. They were an absolute pain to keep on and it definitely felt like Edward Scissorhands relived trying to manage your trick or treat bag (or often just a Morrisons carrier bag). I even ended up losing the fingers in some poor sod's letterbox.

3) Those teeth | we know the ones, the plastic snappy fangs which were way too oversized to fit in your mouth and made you choke at every attempt of looking like a suitable vampire.

4) Fake blood | of course it's still used now but not in the way it was before. The makeup is fast becoming expertised but I used to just plonk a blob of fake blood on the revealed skin and hope for the best. Topped off with those cheap palettes and a plastic container consuming white and green colours and a rectangular sponge and I was well equipped.

5) Being told trick instead of treat | there was always one neighbour who liked to challenge a group of the local kids. You're stood there with your light up skeleton or glow in the dark paint, well prepared to ask for tons more junk food, when the smarmy reply of "trick" echoes in your head but goes nowhere further... I mean how is a greedy child supposed to answer to that? It ain't funny, honey.

6) Being given money | as well as the trick episode, there was always that family who gave you some loose change they'd kitted out of their pockets because all the candy had been taken. I was never ungrateful but I'd much rather have a drumstick lolly or two than 20p change which will more than likely be plonked in the piggy bank never to be seen until your parents say no to a new toy.

7) Sharing is caring | one routine that sticks in my mind is how solid me and my neighbourhood friends were. We would meet and make sure we were all together before setting off to raid the streets with our mum's and dad's trailing behind. Then afterwards, we would head to one singular house, recap on the hundreds of sweets, chocolate (and money) we'd gather and then share them all out equally. Thinking about it, it was actually quite nice. Aw.

8) Horror films | it wasn't Halloween if you didn't watch a movie the night before just to get you in the mood. The classics were Scooby Doo, Hocus Pocus, Chucky and IT. Even if the thought of a clown or a freakish doll frightened the living daylights out of me and I was up all night with the lamp on.

9) Looking out for witches | my parents always told me a mythical story that on Halloween night if you looked up in the sky you would see witches flying in and out of the clouds. I was genuinely convinced and was 100% certain I could see them when I half peered out of the car window and half hid my eyes in fear.

10) More trick or treating | once I got way past the child stage but nowhere near the adult stage, I still craved some door to door fun (and quite rightly, lots of food). We all had a go at attempting to pull off the kiddy-costume appearance but once you skipped past the 5"2 stage it was unfortunately impossible without getting funny looks or refused acknowledgement. There's nothing a typical scream mask can't fix though, right...

Oh, the good old days. How I miss you. There was no extreme fuss back then, just simpleness.

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